GP shortage crisis imminent

GP shortage crisis imminent

Six out of 10 doctors taking early retirement to escape heavy workloads

The British Medical Association has warned that general practice is hitting ‘crisis point’, with a boom in retiring doctors yet a lack of new doctors training as GP’s. With a serious drop in applicants, the number of training places are not expanding fast enough, resulting in a shortage of GP doctors.

Six out of 10 GP’s are even considering early retirement due to increasing workloads, with applicants for GP training are at their lowest point since 2009 and adverts for GP partners are going unanswered.

GP’s out of practice?

The paper reports that “The retirement bulge will occur over the next few years; but in combination with current poor recruitment and concerns over a ‘brain drain’ the result will be a significant shortfall of GPs, a scenario that could be described as a ‘perfect storm’. The remaining workforce will face an increasingly uncertain future and an unpleasant and unsustainable present. The effects on patients and profession alike will be catastrophic.”

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the BMA’s GP committee explained to The Telegraph “General practice is under unprecedented pressure from a combination of escalating patient demand, especially from an ageing population, and falling funding.”